Problem with New Era 5.8

Hi.
I downloaded and installed the 5v8 patch on 15th July 2020, and followed the installation instructions. I installed it on a 4v1BB stable version I'd been playing for years. The game played fine for a few weeks but now crashes regularly in every game. I also noticed I have to double-click on the game icon twice to get the game to run. After I've double-clicked once the rotating cursor runs for 10-20 seconds and then nothing else happens. If I check Task Manager I can see a TA:Kingdoms process running.
I'm on Windows 7 Pro 64 Bit fully patched. Any suggestions please?

Hi fixit9660,

Have you try taking NewEra5.8.hpi out from the kingdoms folder, and then launching tak? If the game crashes without the New Era.hpi file, then something else is causing the crash.

Do you have any other 3rd party files besides New Era.hpi in your kingdoms folder?

Hi Sage.
It appears that, as of late yesterday, I think I've worked out what the crashing problem is; I think it's because I'm playing using my original 4v1BB Maps, and not the ones available for New Era. When I play using the NE Maps I don't get any crashes. I apologise for wasting anyones time.
I do still have to "run the game twice" to get it to run though. I'll try removing the New Era.hpi and see if that improves it. I let you know how it goes in a day or so; I have to shift a load of bags of sand, cement and gravel today

That sounds like a game resolution problem, where your game res is higher than your map res. If the selected map is 1400 x 1400, and your game res is 1600 x 1600, then your game will crash as soon as the map gets loaded.